Star Trek - TNG - 08 - The captain's Honor

by David

  and Lieutenant Commander Troi." He looked

  at Troi appreciatively, then turned

  to Jenny de Luz. "Ensign, I'm afraid

  I don't know you."

  Jenny's lips felt frozen, her mouth

  dry. The man's natural power of command

  stunned her.

  "De Luz, sir. Ensign Jenny de

  Luz."

  Sejanus smiled broadly at her, the

  commander giving way to the charming aristocrat. "And

  you wear the uniform of Starfleet Security,

  Jenny."

  Picard interrupted. "One of my more

  promising young officers, Captain."

  Sejanus' glance lingered on Jenny for jus t a

  second longer, and then he turned to Picard.

  "And now allow me to introduce my officers."

  His pride in them struck Jenny as almost

  paternal.

  As Sejanus named them, the officers stepped

  forward, moving past the ranks of

  legionnaires. One by one, they marched toward

  Picard, their armor jangling, and halted facing

  the captain of the Enterprise. As he stamped

  to a halt, each Magna Roman officer

  saluted Picard by slapping his right fist to his

  chest and then shooting his hand outward, hand open,

  palm down, fingers stiff.

  They were all male, and they were all

  physically impressive specimens. Each

  one's face betrayed a powerful, distinct

  personality. The ancient Roman statuary

  Jenny had seen in museums on her homeworld

  of Meramar had that characteristic. Until now, she

  had thought it simply the artistic style of those

  times. Now she thought My ancestors must have

  had that same sort of strength and presence.

  She glanced over at Picard and saw a

  pleased smile on his face. He admires

  them too.

  Their names, however, were not so distinctive. There

  was a plethora of Gaiuses and Juliuses and

  Luciuses. And now I understand, Jenny

  thought, why the Romans so often used

  the first and middle names or the first and last names

  when addressing each other. There's no other way

  to avoid confusing one Roman with another! And

  then she looked again at Sejanus. But not

  him. You'd never address him as "Lucius"

  anyway, but even if you did, there'd be no question

  whom you meant. Even among these strong-willed

  men accustomed to command, he stands out. He'd stand

  out anywhere.

  She noticed Picard responding with a

  grave nod to each salute, and a slight frown

  of concentration, as if intent on remembering each

  name and the face that went with it.

  When the introductions were finished at last,

  Sejanus said, "And now, if you'll follow

  me, Captain?"

  Sejanus led the way down a long

  corridor, with Picard at his side, the two

  captains conversing in low tones as they went.

  Behind them, the officers from the Enterprise and the

  Centurion mingled, following their captains.

  Jenny walked by herself, close behind Picard,

  on the alert without being consciously aware of it.

  The corridor decorations were quite unusual

  for a starship various sculptures of carved

  stone along the walls. Some looked old enough

  to be from ancient Rome itself, while others were of

  various centuries, up to modern times.

  Geordi La Forge, who had been walking

  just behind Jenny, stepped forward to her side.

  "Nice statues," he commented.

  She nodded. "V. Some of the newer ones,

  especially, look to be--"

  "Bugged," Geordi said, leaning closer.

  Jenny raised her eyebrows.

  "Sensors right inside of them," Geordi

  said, lightly touching the VISOR that covered his

  eyes. Jenny didn't know exactly how the

  instrument worked, but she did know that it enabled the

  chief engineer to see across the

  electromagnetic spectrum far beyond the

  range of visible light.

  Jenny nodded her approval. "Very clever."

  "And there's a lot of activity going on

  behind--"

  "The bulkheads. I know. I can hear them.

  Efficient, organized--real Romans! I

  like that."

  The parade of officers came to a large set

  of double doors, which opened to let them

  pass.

  Jenny had to suppress a gasp as they

  entered. The room was as large as any aboard the

  Enterprise, surprising considering the

  Centurion's much smaller size. It was

  filled with nine tables, at eight of which were seated

  nine Magna Romans in full military

  regalia.

  Captain Picard was also surprised.

  Nine times nine, he thought, remembering from

  the dim days of his schooling in France that the

  ancient Romans had considered nine to be the

  perfect number of dinner guests. How the young

  Jean-Luc had detested the dictatorial

  Monsieur du Plessis and his Latin and

  history classes! But now it was all coming in

  handy for the adult Jean-Luc.

  At the center of the room was a

  horseshoe-shaped table of hard dark wood

  inlaid with abstract designs in gold and

  silver and precious stones. The floor was a

  mosaic depicting a Roman legion of old

  slaughtering an army of poorly armed

  dark-skinned warriors. The walls of the large

  banqueting hall contained niches for

  reproductions of ancient art--Greek

  statues alternating with Roman portrait

  busts.

  The open end of the center table faced wide

  floor-to-ceiling windows showing the starfield

  and the curving horizon of Tenara as the

  planet's surface rolled constantly away

  beneath them. It was more beautiful than any of the

  manmade art inside the room, but Picard's

  attention was drawn more to the heavy curtains on

  either side of the window. They were a deep

  purple, and their significance, in this

  neo-Magna Roman setting struck him

  forcefully, for Monsieur du Plessis had also

  impressed upon him strongly that purple was a

  color reserved solely for the emperors of

  Rome.

  The two captains took seats side

  by side at the head of the table, Picard on the

  right, the place of honor. Riker sat to his

  captain's right, on Riker's right was

  Counselor Deanna Troi, and to her right,

  at the end of one arm of the horseshoe, was

  Marcus Julius Volcinius--a dark,

  slender, young officer who had been

  introduced as a cousin of Sejanus.

  Opposite Marcus Volcinius, at the

  end of the other arm, was Data, and then Geordi

  La Forge and Jenny de Luz. Finally, between

  Jenny and Captain Sejanus, was Gaius

  Aldus, whom they had seen earlier on the

  viewscreen on the Enterprise bridge.

  Almost immediately, the first course was set before them

  --an appetizer of minuscule bits of meat

  sitting in a clear golden broth.


  Jenny stared at the small bowls, puzzled

  as much by the tiny pieces of meat as by the odd

  smell of the broth.

  Sejanus smiled. "Pickled hummingbird

  tongues. And the broth," he explained, "is

  what we call liquamen, one of our most

  ancient sauces, and still very popular."

  "Suppose I could exchange it for a

  salad?" Geordi whispered to Jenny.

  "This is quite ... astonishing, Captain,"

  Picard said, exchanging a quick glance with

  Riker. "None of us has ever encountered anything

  quite like it. I'm most eager to begin."

  Sejanus smiled. "We don't stand on

  ceremony, Captain, unlike our

  ancestors. Please."

  Picard smiled in return, picked up the

  silver spoon beside the bowl, and filled his mouth

  with pickled hummingbird tongues and liquamen.

  He could scarcely taste the meat. It was

  overwhelmed by the sauce, which tasted salty,

  fishy, and cheesy all at once.

  He forced a still-wider smile. "Superb!"

  Sejanus grinned. "For non-Romans,

  it's something of an acquired taste! Here's how

  we do it." Eschewing his own spoon, he

  picked the bowl up with both hands and drained it in

  one long swallow. The other Magna Romans

  followed suit.

  Picard took a deep breath and copied

  Sejanus.

  Encouraged and relieved, his crew members

  did the same. Jenny swallowed the appetizer

  --and was surprised to find the dish remarkably

  similar to one of her homeworld's own

  delicacies.

  She turned and spoke to Gaius Aldus,

  on her right, "This is wonderful!"

  Gaius' serious face relaxed. "Thank

  you, Ensign. Non-Romans don't

  always react that way." He indicated

  Geordi, on Jenny's left, whose face had

  taken on a distinctly greenish pallor.

  Jenny smothered a laugh as servitors

  appeared to take away the empty bowls and bring

  the next course. To her considerable surprise,

  they were all scantily clad young women.

  "Not quite ... standard Starfleet uniform, is

  it?" she asked Gaius.

  The Magna Roman flushed slightly.

  "These aren't members of Starfleet. They're

  civilian employees, hired directly by the

  government of Magna Roma to work aboard our

  ships. Most of them are descendants of the

  slave class from imperial days." He shook

  his head. "I'm afraid the old social

  divisions still exist, even though they are no

  longer official. Seventy years is not

  sufficient to completely change a society that

  was based on slavery for thousands of years."

  Jenny grimaced in distaste, and Gaius

  added quickly, "But we are trying."

  "Yes. And I can see that it must be

  difficult. But you're still holding on to some

  things. Your uniform, for example."

  "Strictly ceremonial, Ensign. And this"

  --Gaius slapped his metal breastplate

  proudly--"has nothing to do with slavery. This

  uniform is the part of our heritage we have a right

  to be proud of."

  Jenny chewed that over thoughtfully. Clearly

  there was something to be said for the Roman attitude

  --the ship had fought brilliantly against great

  odds, and its captain seemed to her the epitome

  of strong leadership. Much of their attitude was

  surely the nature of the individuals

  involved. But she wondered if some of it--perhaps

  a great part of it--was in fact an element of

  Magna Roma's remarkable heritage.

  Gaius said, "Ensign ... or may I

  call you Jenny?"

  "Oh, yes. Please do."

  Gaius nodded, smiling. "In ancient

  times, we learned from the Graeci--the

  Greeks, you would say--to admire heroes and

  personal honor and all the other warrior

  virtues. We also learned from them to value

  learning itself, for its own sake, even though we

  lack their gift for theory. And we absorbed

  their admiration of health and physical

  beauty." He nodded toward the archway where the

  young women had exited.

  Through it came four muscular young men wearing

  simple tunics and carrying at shoulder height

  a huge metal platter upon which lay a roasted

  pig swimming in gravy. Steam rose from the

  carcass.

  "We, however, taught the Graeci about

  food," Gaius Aldus added with a chuckle.

  The young men placed the platter on the tiled

  floor, where it covered up much of the battle

  scene. One of them produced a long knife from

  somewhere and bent down.

  Sejanus jumped to his feet. "Look

  at this, Captain Picard!" He was grinning in

  anticipated delig ht.

  Jenny watched as the young man inserted the

  knife between the pig's shoulders, at the base of

  its neck, pushed it a short distance into the

  body, and then began to draw the knife downward

  toward the rump. She realized that the ribs must

  already have been severed to make it possible for him

  to do this with such ease. When he had completed his

  cut, he drew out the knife, and then he and his

  three companions gripped the edges of the cut with

  both hands and, at a nod from the one who had used

  the knife, pulled quickly and powerfully,

  spreading the pig's body open.

  Exposed within were innumerable small, motionless

  birds floating in the gravy.

  Sejanus had been watching Picard for his

  reaction.

  "Thrushes!" the Roman said happily.

  "Live thrushes! See?" He realized

  something was wrong and turned back to the dead pig.

  "What ...?"

  "I'm afraid the birds have drowned in the

  sauce, sir," one of the young servitors said

  nervously.

  Sejanus' jaw tightened. "Who's

  responsible for this?" He hissed the words between

  clenched teeth. The four young men turned pale

  and began to back away.

  Gaius Aldus, also standing, reached out quickly

  and placed his hand on his captain's arm.

  "Didn't the ancients say, Lucius

  Aelius, that a fowl killed by drowning in wine

  has a particularly fine flavor?"

  The guests from the Enterprise reacted with

  horror to this, but it seemed to soothe

  Sejanus. He smiled at his aide. "Right

  as always, Gaius." The four young servitors

  took the opportunity to scuttle out of the

  room. Sejanus ignored them and turned

  to Picard. "This man, Captain," he said,

  indicating Gaius Aldus, "is a

  treasure. He is my friend as well as my

  aide and first officer. He has served my

  family well and faithfully all of his life.

  He has been by my side since we were both

  children, guarding my honor as competently as he

  guards my life. He is Magister

  Navis--master of my ship, navigator,

  guide. This is very much a Magna Roman

  tradition
."

  "But the term is yet another parallel between

  your world and Earth, Captain Sejanus,"

  Picard said as the company relaxed and sat down

  once again. The young women advanced and began

  carving the roast pig. "I believe the

  Romans of ancient Earth used it as well."

  "Quite correct, Captain Picard,"

  Sejanus said. "Your reputation does not do you

  justice, I see. You're a scholar and an

  officer."

  "The similarities between Magna Roman and

  Earth history are uncanny--beyond even what

  Hodgkins' Theory of parallel planetary

  development would predict," Commander Riker

  added.

  "Only up to a certain point," Sejanus

  said. "From there, our planets followed

  radically different paths."

  Data nodded. "On Earth the empire

  fell--and its dissolution led first to cultural

  fragmentation and the Dark Ages--"

  "While on our world, the empire flourished

  and was able to lead Magna Roma to new levels

  of prosperity." This interruption came from

  Marcus Julius Volcinius--who had

  remained silent and almost antisocial up

  until now. He spoke in a patronizing

  voice, as if what he was saying was so obvious

  as to be barely worth mentioning.

  "I do not believe all Magna Romans

  would agree with your statement, Lieutenant,"

  Data said. "The brutal dictatorship that

  existed on your planet until recently was

  certainly not prosperous for the great majority of

  your citizens--"

  "Prosperity is not measured strictly in

  terms of money," Marcus Julius

  Volcinius said, cutting off Data.

  "Culture, stability, peace--those are the

  things the great Magna Roman Empire brought

  to our world," the officer said, coming as close

  to sneering as he could without visibly looking down

  his nose at Data. "I would not expect a

  machine to understand such things."

  To her left, Jenny saw Geordi

  visibly tense in his chair.

  "Data," the engineer said in a clipped,

  tense voice, "is not a machine,

  Lieutenant."

  "Yes I am, Geordi," Data said.

  Sejanus laughed. "Gentlemen, please!

  I like to think we Magna Romans took the

  best traditions from both worlds--those of our

  native culture and those of Starfleet, shown

  to us when the Federation visited Magna Roma

  decades ago."

  "One of the ships that first came to your world,"

  Jenny said, "was also named the Enterprise--

  the name our ship carries as well."

  Sejanus nodded. "Preserving the names of

  noble men and noble ships of the past is a fine